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Month: March 2016

Crayons are starting to have a new use in the art world. This art is called crayon melting. This is where you melt crayons in different ways to create art or add spurs of color to a piece of art. I like to call it crayon art because that is what it is! You are taking a white canvas and melting crayons over the top of the canvas to make your own unique piece of art. I love to do crayon art and so do my kids! When I first started to do crayon art, I would draw a lot of my images onto the canvas. When my children took interest to this activity, I couldn’t keep up with their requests. I ran to the internet images for help. Going on the internet and finding images to cut out and piece together into your own picture is so fun for the kids. It is amazing what their little minds can create! I have even embraced printable images for some of my own canvas art. A great place to start looking for printable s is Pintrest. Follow this link, Pintrest Printouts to start looking for some ideas for your next crayon art piece. Once you find your images, just print them out. After this step comes the fun part! Melting the crayons and seeing what imaginations create! Have fun melting!

Some examples of my print outs after they are cut

THINGS YOU WILL NEED TO START YOUR OWN CRAYON ART PROJECT

Canvasof any size. The size I typically use is 12×16 when using print outs from the computer. I feel it leaves the best amount of backdrop for your crayon art. The size will be for you to decide depending on the picture you chose and the effect you are looking for.

Exacto knife and scissors will be needed to cut around the print out or picture you chose for your canvas.

Painters Tape is great to use for this project. I personally like to use frog tape because it comes off cleaner and sticks better than regular painters tape.

Plastic grocery bag or any plastic you find that could be used to cover the photo. Saran wrap has worked for me in the past if I double the wrap.

Modge Podge

Paint brushes of any size works but I really enjoy the sponge brushes with this project. They give a even layer of modge podge compared to bristle brushes.

CRAYONS

Hair dryer and/or glue gun depending on the effect you will want to achieve in the background.

STARTING THE CANVAS

Once you find your image or images and have printed them, you will have to use the scissors/exacto knife to cut around the image. The exacto knife works the best around small areas. This is unfortunately time consuming especially on detailed images. I let the kids pick out the images and spend the night cutting. Then crayon art the following day.

Take your canvas and plan how you want your printouts to be laid out. Once you have your locations picked out take your paint brush and brush a light layer of modge podge on the canvas where the image will go. Once you lay the image down, go over the image again with a layer of modge podge. Let dry. Be very careful on the amount of glue you put on so that the image doesn’t bubble. I often use a credit card to flatten any bubbles.

Once your printables are glued into place, you will need to cut plastic to cover the image. Using the painters tape you will tape the plastic over the image. Once you are done with this step, it is time for the most fun part of all! Make sure you have newspaper laid down before starting.

Time for crayon melting!! Now this can be done in many ways. Different ways can cause different effects with the crayons. I recommend using a hair dryer with kids, especially younger ones.

Here are some other great ways to melt crayons

Glue/tape crayons to the top of the image. Use a blow dryer to melt crayons. Hold canvas in an upward position so the crayon melts down. This causes a dripping effect.

Shave the crayons into small shavings. The kids can sprinkle the colors where they want. Use blow dryer to melt. This causes puddles and little sprays of colors. Another option with this technique is using a toothpick to swirl and blend the colors how you like.

Using a glue gun can cause spray effects. I don’t recommend this with kids under 12 because the glue gun gets hot and sometimes the crayon will get stuck inside. This can also be a messy technique but makes great splatters of color.

You will notice that you will get different effects depending on how high the heat is, what tool you are working with to melt the crayons, and also how close you are to the canvas. Try different things and have fun creating with your kids! You will have amazing canvas art hanging around your home in no time!! For more ideas and techniques check out Pintrest Crayon Art Ideas. The ideas are endless!!